OPEX: WHY YOU SHOULDN'T IGNORE PROPER FIBER CABLE MANAGEMENT

We know you're under the gun to produce higher data speeds, all while keeping costs down. The cost of proper fiber cable management, especially installing a logical raceway solution, can start to balloon your capital expenditures. We can, however, prove you need to weigh that CAPEX against your OPEX.

This is the 14th in a Telect blog series, entitled The ABCs of Cable Management. Product Specialist Alex Sankey reveals results from a time-comparison study Amphenol Telect conducted on three fiber cable raceway solutions.

See, we get it. We know wire baskets and split tubes are inexpensive. We know it's painful to consider the cost of a raceway solution when you just have to get your network running, or get it up to today's acceptable user speeds.

It's a tough purchasing decision to make. For a large installation of a full raceway solution, we're talking $20,000 and change.

That's only a fraction of what it costs to install your entire network, but it's still an easy cut to make sure investment is minimal.

Not, however, when you consider what's traveling across delicate glass encased in hard plastic: data that's vital to your end user.

Planning for the future

Improper cable management can result in fiber cable degradation, which in turn leads to signal loss and possible outages. Add building up your network to the regular maintenance, and you're looking at spikes in OPEX that are going to raise eyebrows over in the finance department.

Instead of focusing on the initial investment, you need to consider what's cost-effective over the long term. What strategy is going to provide the most flexible network? What plan will allow you to scale your network quickly and efficiently? What solution will protect your fiber cable over time, ensuring the long-term reliability of your network signal?

A sturdy cable management infrastructure that's easy to install and retrofit is exactly what you need.

Amphenol Telect recently conducted a time-lapse case study of the three cable-raceway solutions available in North America. We contracted an independent cabling company to install each solution in our own data center, comparing the time required, ease of installation and quality of the product.

We have much more to share in a case study that will be released soon, but we can tell you the installers reported a significant reduction in time spent working on Amphenol Telect WaveTrax products than the other guys' systems.

While the installers needed up to eight hours with our competitors' solutions, they completed a WaveTrax installation in four hours.

While they needed two hours or more to work with our competitors' products, they completed a WaveTrax retrofit in 45 minutes.

It calculates into a 50 percent reduction in time spent on installation and 60 percent in retrofit. That's a big deal on retrofits. When you're expanding your network, you need to do it quickly to satisfy your end users' needs.

That time saved turns into a lower labor bill from your contracted installers.

Using a cable raceway solution that allows for flexibility and agility in changes, you keep your fiber cable managed, protected and durable.

Alex Sankey is a Product Specialist at Amphenol Telect. He is driven to ensure our customers continue to receive the superior cable management and quality support for which Amphenol Telect is known.